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Studies claiming to reveal strategies for feeling happy get a second look.

In 1924, Edwin Hubble found proof that the Milky Way isn’t the only galaxy in the Universe.

As with any “big idea” progress means a lot of different things to different people and not everyone comes into the discussion with the same priors. Some experts are primarily focused on material progress while others emphasize the importance of moral progress. So to start the discussion, we asked each expert to define the term as they see it from their specific vantage point.

In a citizen science project, thousands of pet dogs are helping scientists to understand what happens to memory and cognition in old age.

Hundreds of these cannabis-related chemicals now exist, both natural and synthetic, inspiring researchers in search of medical breakthroughs.

All American and European eels originate in the same place.

In ancient Rome, collective bathing was the norm. In the West today, it’s the exception — and that’s too bad.

Even in the very early Universe, there were heavy, supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies. How did they get so big so fast?

Ancient humans may have evolved to slumber efficiently — and in a crowd.

To the ancient Greeks, exotic animals were proof of mythological creatures. To the ancient Romans, they were oddities and adversaries.

Rich data on the global state of our feathered friends presents plenty of bad news — but also some bright spots.

A longstanding mismatch between theory and experiment motivated an exquisite muon measurement. At last, a theoretical solution has arrived.

The world’s “most produced living playwright” wins out over other contestants, including Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood.

The idea is to study the thing itself — be it a work of literature, death, family, a car, a vaccine, or the hospital — without preconceived notions, trendy easy answers, or dogma imposed on it.

Tikal, one of the biggest cities the Maya ever built, was home to a vast and flourishing society.

Math can explain why your laces spontaneously come untied — and how to stop it.

A wave of innovation is coursing through the nuclear industry — but ingrained opposition is the biggest roadblock.

Grab a sword, a small plate, and a young child. We’ve got a demon to summon.

A classical equivalent to Chanel No. 5.

Claims of a “loneliness epidemic” aren’t based on robust data. Loneliness might be a problem, but it’s not worse than it was in the past.

“Carpe diem” was only one part of Horace’s poem Odes 1.11.

A true scientific view of if, where, and when extraterrestrial life exists is within our grasp thanks to biosignatures and technosignatures.

A 1.5-million-year-old hominin bone shows signs that the victim was eaten by lions — and humans.

Compared to people who took a placebo, the brains of those who took caffeine pills had a temporarily smaller gray matter volume.

A combination of factors make the weather at New Hampshire’s Mount Washington arguably the most brutal in the world.

Great tidal ranges are relatively rare on a global scale — and can be very deadly to the unsuspecting foreshore walker.

These astounding inventions show that civilizations of the past were a lot more advanced than we might have thought.

It’s the paradoxical observation that the more we try to process, the less we actually can.

Daydreaming can be a pleasant pastime, but people who suffer from maladaptive daydreaming are trapped by their fantasies.

The carnival spirit was in full swing when the priests got wasted and made indecent gestures while dressed like pimps.